I have enjoyed watching all three of your videos so far. I would love to see a video on the realistic upfront costs of self-publishing. I'm thinking about the costs of hiring designers, editors, etc. I already know advertising costs are highly variable. Ten years ago, my wife wrote non-fiction books (for a traditional publisher) that sold moderately well but got stellar reviews. Her publisher loved her ability to write fast and in such a way that they had very little editing to do. She followed that up by ghostwriting the first six books in a mystery fiction series for a KDP entrepreneur. Those books also sold pretty well (though I don't know how much of that revenue was driven by advertising). Fast forward to today, and I'm thinking of leveraging my wife's love of writing and the graphic design talents of our adult daughter to give self-publishing a go. But my wife (an educator and a linguist) is pretty busy finishing her doctoral work and has no interest in writing good quality books that no one is going to buy, LOL. So, I've got to figure out the marketing part and see if there's anything she'd love to write about worth tackling. So, you've got yourself another subscriber, and I'm looking forward to your content to come.
Thanks for the question and nice to meet you! Excellent question. I will be covering this exact topic in a future video. Until then, here is an incomplete and generalized response: it depends. Costs depend on the book subject. For example, a nonfiction book on the topic of habit creation will be mostly text with simple formatting and probably the cover will be relatively simple. Compare that to a cookbook which requires much more effort to format (good cookbooks use Adobe InDesign or similar advanced layout software which is cumbersome and more costly than a simple book formatted in Word) and cookbook covers can be more complex, therefore cost a little more. So, it really does depend on the book subject. That being said, if we take a 30,000 word book and hire a ghostwriter for around 4 cents/word, then that's $1,200 for the text. Then, assuming the book is mostly text (not a cookbook or heavy graphics book) then formatting could be between free (if you do it yourself in Word) or a couple hundred if you hire a graphic designer (also working in Word). A good cover is in the $300 range, and I like to test covers so add another $100-$200 for variations and testing. Assuming you're doing your own market research, kw research, copywriting, that leaves A+ and advertising. I'd budget $100 for A+. You can find someone on fiverr who'll do it for $10, but it's usually crap (excuse the French). And Canva will eat up your time to get pro looking A+, so I opt to hire a good designer. It's always a dance between DIY and hiring professionals. One eats up your nonrefundable time, and the other costs money but advances your life. Then there's advertising. Depending on the book, I like to budget $500 to launch, then advertising will change into growth and maintenance mode, where the return should pay for the advertising. With your wife as a writer, your daughter as graphic designer, and yourself as the marketing genius, I think you're in a great position. Feel free to book a discussion call with me. I'd be happy to help you figure out a game plan,. Sign up on my website and I'll send you my calendar link. 👍
@@SelfPublishing Thank you for that thorough answer. I really do appreciate it. It helps me understand things better for sure. I will reach out to you through your website as you suggest.
thanks for the question. I use helium to check competitors' advertising, and not that often. I prefer to look at amazon a lot and get a "sense" for opportunities. I use DS quickview to quickly see other books' BSR, categories, and basic info. Beyond that it's the amazon search bar and a lot of manual poking around on amazon.
You re telling me you dont need helium or publisher rocket or … especially in my case im just a beginner and i dont know wich strategy should i focus on hence its june and i want to be ready for q4, i am motivated and i mean if subscribing on one of the these platforms would actually do impact the results i would do it, but again im just beginner, your thoughts 💭?
@@adnaneajana8949 What I'm going to say is easy for me to say, but maybe hard to hear. The number one skill you need to learn and develop is how to choose your niches and book concepts. I believe that's a skill you need to internalize, not rely on software to provide. You're right to think ahead to Q4. What broad niches do you feel most comfortable with and enthusiastic about?
@@SelfPublishing i am a medical student so anything related to Health or medical feald , i’m in. You right i dont have the skill of niche choosing , what can i do about it ?
Very good comparison Amazon KDP video, Dorian breaks down the major categories on how the KDP game is played. Thank you, Dorian.
Glad it helps 👍
I have enjoyed watching all three of your videos so far. I would love to see a video on the realistic upfront costs of self-publishing. I'm thinking about the costs of hiring designers, editors, etc. I already know advertising costs are highly variable. Ten years ago, my wife wrote non-fiction books (for a traditional publisher) that sold moderately well but got stellar reviews. Her publisher loved her ability to write fast and in such a way that they had very little editing to do. She followed that up by ghostwriting the first six books in a mystery fiction series for a KDP entrepreneur. Those books also sold pretty well (though I don't know how much of that revenue was driven by advertising). Fast forward to today, and I'm thinking of leveraging my wife's love of writing and the graphic design talents of our adult daughter to give self-publishing a go. But my wife (an educator and a linguist) is pretty busy finishing her doctoral work and has no interest in writing good quality books that no one is going to buy, LOL. So, I've got to figure out the marketing part and see if there's anything she'd love to write about worth tackling. So, you've got yourself another subscriber, and I'm looking forward to your content to come.
Thanks for the question and nice to meet you! Excellent question. I will be covering this exact topic in a future video. Until then, here is an incomplete and generalized response: it depends. Costs depend on the book subject. For example, a nonfiction book on the topic of habit creation will be mostly text with simple formatting and probably the cover will be relatively simple. Compare that to a cookbook which requires much more effort to format (good cookbooks use Adobe InDesign or similar advanced layout software which is cumbersome and more costly than a simple book formatted in Word) and cookbook covers can be more complex, therefore cost a little more. So, it really does depend on the book subject.
That being said, if we take a 30,000 word book and hire a ghostwriter for around 4 cents/word, then that's $1,200 for the text. Then, assuming the book is mostly text (not a cookbook or heavy graphics book) then formatting could be between free (if you do it yourself in Word) or a couple hundred if you hire a graphic designer (also working in Word). A good cover is in the $300 range, and I like to test covers so add another $100-$200 for variations and testing. Assuming you're doing your own market research, kw research, copywriting, that leaves A+ and advertising. I'd budget $100 for A+. You can find someone on fiverr who'll do it for $10, but it's usually crap (excuse the French). And Canva will eat up your time to get pro looking A+, so I opt to hire a good designer. It's always a dance between DIY and hiring professionals. One eats up your nonrefundable time, and the other costs money but advances your life.
Then there's advertising. Depending on the book, I like to budget $500 to launch, then advertising will change into growth and maintenance mode, where the return should pay for the advertising.
With your wife as a writer, your daughter as graphic designer, and yourself as the marketing genius, I think you're in a great position.
Feel free to book a discussion call with me. I'd be happy to help you figure out a game plan,. Sign up on my website and I'll send you my calendar link. 👍
@@SelfPublishing Thank you for that thorough answer. I really do appreciate it. It helps me understand things better for sure. I will reach out to you through your website as you suggest.
@@two4.six8 👍glad to help
Great video!! So smart! A french fan 😊
Merci! Allez les bleus! :)
@@SelfPublishing 😊
if you dont use helium to launch books then which tools do you USE
thanks for the question. I use helium to check competitors' advertising, and not that often. I prefer to look at amazon a lot and get a "sense" for opportunities. I use DS quickview to quickly see other books' BSR, categories, and basic info. Beyond that it's the amazon search bar and a lot of manual poking around on amazon.
You re telling me you dont need helium or publisher rocket or … especially in my case im just a beginner and i dont know wich strategy should i focus on hence its june and i want to be ready for q4, i am motivated and i mean if subscribing on one of the these platforms would actually do impact the results i would do it, but again im just beginner, your thoughts 💭?
@@adnaneajana8949 What I'm going to say is easy for me to say, but maybe hard to hear. The number one skill you need to learn and develop is how to choose your niches and book concepts. I believe that's a skill you need to internalize, not rely on software to provide. You're right to think ahead to Q4. What broad niches do you feel most comfortable with and enthusiastic about?
@@SelfPublishing i am a medical student so anything related to Health or medical feald , i’m in. You right i dont have the skill of niche choosing , what can i do about it ?